Grating or ventilated flooring



Nov. 30,1926. 1,609,126

P. L. PRICE INI ENTOR A TTORNE Y stresses.

Patented Nov. 30, 1926.

' UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

PAUL LEON PRICE, OF MOUNT VERNON, NEW YORK, ASSIGNOR TO IRVING IRON WORKS COMPANY, A CORPORATION OF NEW YORK.

GRATING 0R VENTILATED FLOORING.

Application filed July 27,

My invention is designed to produce a type of grating or ventilated flooring for use in buildings, on sidewalks, in steps, etc., which shall present the maximum resistance to any slipping by the persons stepping thereon, possess a certain elasticity when Warping strains are applied thereto, and at the same time be simple and cheap in construction.

Gratings intended to secure these results have been heretofore designed but they have either failed in part to fully attain the objectives first mentioned, or have been so costly to manufacture as to seriously affect their commercial value. Thus the grating shown and described in my pending application Serial No. 652,943, filed July 21, 1923, secures the first of the above stated objects, and, to a considerable degree, ossesses the characteristic of elasticity un er warping strains, but it is very costly to manufacture because the strips to be bent must be heated to redness before the sharp, right-angled corners therein sho'wn'can be produced, and this not only requires much time and expenditure of fuel, but also shortens the life of the crimping dies. My present invention avoids these difficulties as the bent spacing strips hereinafter described and claimed can be crimped cold, since in their finished form only flowing curves appear.

The best form of structure at present known to me embodying my present invention is illustrated in the accompanying sheet of drawing in which:

Fig. 1 is a plan view of a panel of the grating,

Fig. 2 is a perspective detail of one of the bent spacing strips, and

Fig. 3 is a cross section taken on line 3--3 of Fig. 1, on an enlarged scale and with parts broken away.

Throughout the drawings like reference characters indicate like parts. 1, 1, are the straight bars which form the supporting trusses for carrying any superimposed load. These are spaced apart by interveningbent strips 2, .2, which are of much lighter weight and consequently more flexible, but which are sufiiciently rigid for maintaining proper spacing of bars 1, 1, under all ordinary The strips 2, 2, are also preferably made of less depth than bars 1, 1, (when the parts are assem led), as shown in Fig. 2, as this reduces weight and liability to clogging 1923. Serial No. 654,063.

by dirt, while permitting more inclined light rays to pass through the grating without obstruction, the narrower strips 2, 2, having their upper edges in the same plane with the upper edges of bars 1, 1, thus leaving the lower parts of the spaces between bars 1, 1, unobstructed; a

-The essence of the invention consists in the particular configuration of the bent spacingstrips 2, 2, and their special functions when the grating is assembled. Each strip 2 is crimped so as to present a series of equallyspaced-apart, rectilinear sections 3, adapted to be fastened to adjacent bars 1, 1, by rivets 6, 6, or other suitable means, a second series of rectilinear sections 5, 5, interspersed hetween the members of the first set 3, 3, and slightly inclined thereto, and reversely curved sections 4, 4, connecting adjacent ends of sections 3 and 5.

When the above described elements are combined to form a panel of grating as shown in Fig. 1, the 11 per surface thereof 4 is formed in considera le part by the reversely curved sections 4, 4, of bent strips 2, 2, which curved sections present a sharp resistance to any slipping of the foot of a passing pedestrian, and the combined action of all the elements is to quite evenly distribute the points of support for such pedestrian or for the wheels of passing trucks so that the latter will roll easily over the grating. This latter feature is especially im portant in industrial plants, a field of use for the invention which is growing rapidly. At

the same time these reversely curved sections give a certain elasticity to each portion of the strips 2, between adjacent rivets 6, 6, so that if the grating is subjected to a suflicient warping strain, as for instance by a misalinement of its supports, it may bend without buckling or rupture. Finally, and most important of all, the grating having the above described qualities can be cheaply and rapidly fabricated, as strips 2, 2, can be crimped cold out of standard mild steel stock with compartively little wear on the crimping dies. Having described my invention, I claim: 1. A structure for use as a ventilated flooring or grating, which structure comrises, in combination, a series of straight ars and a series of intervening bent strips riveted to the first mentioned straight bars,

each of said bent strips having regularlyspaced-apart rectilinear sections adapted to rest against, lie parallel to, and be fastened to the adjacent straight bars located on either side of said bent strip, intervening rectilinear sections slightly inclined to the first mentioned rectilinear sections, and reversely curved sections connecting adjacent ends of all of the before mentioned rectilinear sections.

2. A structure such as is described in claim 1 in which the bent strips are of less depth than the straight bars but have their upper edges in the same plane with the upper edges of the straight bars.

PAUL LEON PRICE. 

